- ♪ Give me the Bible ♪

>>Today we are blessed with a wonderful gift from God, the Bible. This book is God's living Word. In its pages, we are told, "For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword." It is in this book of books that we find the answers to all of men's questions and need. This morning, your area Churches of Christ welcome you to a program committed to that perfect law of liberty. ♪ Thy light shall guide me in the narrow way ♪

>>As we present "The Living Word." ♪ Precept and promise, law and love combining ♪ ♪ Till night shall vanish in eternal day ♪

>>Now here is your host, Ray Sullins.

>>Welcome to our program on this wondrous Lord's Day morning. Here we are together on another glorious Lord's Day, with the opportunity to worship our God. And thanks for choosing to be with us this day for this time of worship to our Creator. Let me encourage us all to do our own part this day to make our offerings to God acceptable in His sight. As we do those things, certainly we always need to be not only pleasing to God, but to do it in the way that God has commanded. As we begin our offerings to God then at this time, will you bow with me before His mighty throne in prayer? O wondrous God God and Father in heaven, we are so thankful for life and the great privilege that we have to live and to move and to have our very being, Father, because of you. And Father, we thank you for the greatest of all gifts, Jesus Christ and His willingness to come to the earth, that we might see by His example a perfect life, as well as the offering of that life for our sakes and the resurrection. And Father, we know through that great gift that we someday will have the great privilege and opportunity to have eternal life with You and Your Son and the Holy Spirit forever, and by Your grace, love, and mercy, may we receive that great privilege, as we also prove ourselves to be found faithful in the end. And Father, we ask at this time, You'll help us to do all in spirit and truth, as You have commanded according to Your perfect Word. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Now consider with me many of the good songs that we sing together about our great Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Just consider the great blessings that God gives us each and every day throughout our lives. This morning, we want to sing about the fact that Jesus is alive and well, and that the Lord is King of kings, and certainly one who is deserving of our worship. So as we begin with our brethren this morning in song, won't you join in as we sing together, "I Know That My Redeemer Lives." ♪ I know that my Redeemer lives ♪ ♪ And living, cares for me ♪ ♪ I know eternal life He gives ♪ ♪ And gave on Calvary ♪ ♪ O 'twas wonderful, wonderful love ♪ ♪ That brought Him, from Heaven above ♪ ♪ As a ransom, to die on the tree ♪ ♪ To save, a poor sinner like me ♪ ♪ I know the promise cannot fail ♪ ♪ The hour is drawing nigh ♪ ♪ Though cruel death may flesh assail ♪ ♪ My soul shall never die ♪ ♪ O 'twas wonderful, wonderful love ♪ ♪ That brought Him, from Heaven above ♪ ♪ As a ransom, to die on the tree ♪ ♪ To save, a poor sinner like me ♪ ♪ I know my mansion He prepares ♪ ♪ Beside the crystal sea ♪ ♪ That where He lives and loves and cares ♪ ♪ There I may ever be ♪ ♪ O 'twas wonderful, wonderful love ♪ ♪ That brought Him, from Heaven above ♪ ♪ As a ransom, to die on the tree ♪ ♪ To save, a poor sinner like me ♪

>>In the book which Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, we see that he continually exhorted them to do what God wanted them to do. In fact, as we see the reference in 1 Thessalonians chapter two, verse 11, when he refers to this exhortation as a similar thing between father and child, we actually are encouraged to maybe consider exactly what he means here. In that verse, he told them, "As you know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you as a father does his own children." What a wonderful, loving, and concerning statement that this is, and what it shows about Paul's care and love for the brethren. For Paul told them that he was only trying to help them, because he loved them and wanted to extort and encourage them to remain faithful in the things of God, just as a parent would motivate his own child in their daily life. But now look at verse 12 with me. There he goes on to say, "Walk worthy of God, who calls you into His own kingdom and glory." Wow, this is a massive statement here, which I don't think that we often really comprehend fully or even understand ourselves. You see here, we learn that we need to know who God is and the requirements of God. We might even ask ourselves, have we failed to remember that He is an all-righteous, all-powerful Creator, the very giver of life itself? Now, with that in mind, let's read again Paul's words. "Walk worthy of God, who calls you into His own kingdom and glory." Little scary to me, isn't it? How can you truly walk worthy and acceptable before such an awesome and magnificent God? Well, the good news is we actually can, because God is only asking that we give our very best. He realizes that we are not literally perfect and actually never will be, that we will struggle and have difficulties in life. He understands that we have sinned and most likely will sin, and remember that He made us with the ability to choose. That is why the writers of the Bible always talk about the need that we have to be more like Christ and even to go on toward perfection. However, God knowing all along that, as human beings, we cannot often reach perfection, although trying, He remembers there with us what we can do or strive for. Well, in Hebrews, we see the idea of, "Let us go on to perfection," chapter six, verse one, but then Paul also adds this idea in 1 Corinthians 11 in verse one, when he says, "Be imitators of me, just as I am of Christ." You see, as Christians, we must strive every day to be more like Christ, thus proving ourselves to be worthy of the promises and blessings which we will receive through His grace because of the love that He had in shedding His blood, that we might be found presentable. Are you giving your best to God today? As I ask you these things this morning, I would ask you to think about our series, then, that we will have together. We will continue this morning with our series entitled "Meditate on These Things." Our specific lesson of the day is "Whatever Things Are Noble," so please stay with us this Lord's Day. In just a few minutes, we'll return and be led in this study from God's Word. As far as our guest speaker, we are happy to again have Brother Brent Green with us. Brother Brent is a full-time instructor at the Bible Institute of Missouri here in Springfield, and we thank him for joining us and look forward to him leading our thoughts from God's Word. But for now, let's join together in the second song of the day, the name of the hymn, "Sing Hallelujah to the Lord" ♪ Sing hallelujah to the Lord ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah to the Lord ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah to the Lord ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah to the Lord ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah, sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah to the Lord ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah to the Lord ♪ ♪ Jesus is risen from the dead ♪ ♪ Jesus is risen from the dead ♪ ♪ Jesus is risen from the dead ♪ ♪ Jesus is risen from the dead ♪ ♪ Jesus is risen, Jesus is risen ♪ ♪ Jesus is risen from the dead ♪ ♪ Jesus is risen from the dead ♪ ♪ Jesus is living in His church ♪ ♪ Jesus is living in His church ♪ ♪ Jesus is living in His church ♪ ♪ Jesus is living in His church ♪ ♪ Jesus is living, Jesus is living ♪ ♪ Jesus is living in His church ♪ ♪ Jesus is living in His church ♪ ♪ Jesus is Lord of heav'n and earth ♪ ♪ Jesus is Lord of heav'n and earth ♪ ♪ Jesus is Lord of heav'n and earth ♪ ♪ Jesus is Lord of heav'n and earth ♪ ♪ Jesus is Lord, Jesus is Lord ♪ ♪ Jesus is Lord of heav'n and earth ♪ ♪ Jesus is Lord of heav'n and earth ♪ ♪ He's coming back to claim His own ♪ ♪ He's coming back to claim His own ♪ ♪ He's coming back to claim His own ♪ ♪ He's coming back to claim His own ♪ ♪ He's coming back, He's coming back ♪ ♪ He's coming back to claim His own ♪ ♪ He's coming back to claim His own ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah to the Lord ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah to the Lord ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah to the Lord ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah to the Lord ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah, sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah to the Lord ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah to the Lord ♪

>>What a joy it is as always to be able to open the Word of God and study from it. We'll start in Philippians chapter four, verse eight, in this series of lessons. Says here in Philippians 4:8, "Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good rapport, if there's any virtue, if there's anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things." There are certain things in this world that we might consider to be treasures, some that we can't even put a price tag on. If you think about the child in the home laughing, how precious that is, or you might think about some photographs of the family, or some family heirlooms that have been passed down. Maybe it's something as simple as a recipe that you received from your grandmother, things that we think that are of great value that you really couldn't put a price tag on, treasures, if you will. Well, here in Philippians chapter four, verse eight, we actually have a list of what we could call spiritual treasures. These are things that Christians need to have in their lives. Actually, the word meditate there even includes in its definition the idea of collecting things of great value. So what things of great value are we collecting as Christians, spiritually speaking? If it's not these things, then maybe we're not collecting the right things. I want you to think about here what it says in Philippians chapter four, verse eight, and what it means for us to collect things that are noble. Nobility is something that maybe we don't think about very often and certainly a word that we may not use in our everyday lives, but certainly something here that is identified as being of tremendous value. So what are these noble things? What is nobility? Well, different words are sometimes used here in the different translations for this particular word. As it says here in the New King James, the word noble. Other translations use the word honorable. Some even use the word honest. These are things that are truly worthy of reverence. These are things, spiritually speaking, that are venerable, or things that are dignified or of a high standard. Truly, these things are honorable in the sight of both men and God. These are things that are worthy of honor. I think from a very basic standpoint, we can understand as human beings that some things deserve honor, and some things do not, and as we live in this life as Christians, we need to make sure that we're living in such a way that we truly are collecting noble things. That is by the way we interact with each other, the way we speak, the way we live our lives, that people will look at us and say, "Well, those people are people that are truly people of nobility, people that truly are honorable in this world." This particular word as it's used here in Philippians chapter four, verse eight, is only used just a few times in the original New Testament. It's used there in 1 Timothy chapter three and verse eight were deacons are to be those who are reverent. Also there in 1 Timothy chapter three, verse 11, where the wives of deacons are also to be reverent, and then finally in Titus chapter two, verse two, where it says the older men are to be reverent. So there's another synonym, even as we find in our Bible translation, that the word reverent is synonymous here with the idea of something that is noble, something that we ought to have as a part of our lives as Christians. So as we think about what that word means and how we can understand there its definition, then this is something that we should make a part of our lives every day as Christians, and not just something that's superficial, but something that's an integral part of our daily lives as we live here on this earth. Too many times, that's something that you don't see in the lives of people of this world, and even in Christians sometimes, we can be lacking in this characteristic or this trait of nobility. Too many times, you see students that defy their teachers. They speak disrespectfully to them. They don't care how they act. They talk and they goof off during class. Maybe it's not in the classroom, but sometimes others, like citizens of the state of this country, of countries around the world, do not act in a way that is noble. Rather, they defy the laws of the land. They break the ordinances, and they don't care what the law says. They disregard the rights of others and the safety of others or the rights even of themselves, and those things in law, because they don't care what would happen to them. Sometimes people defy even the police and those in authority. They act disrespectful. They would fight against authority. They have a total disregard for such, but above all these aspects of disrespect and a lack of nobility, we see people that would defy God, those who would use His name in vain, those who would speak evil of their very Creator, those who would do whatever they want to do. That's the very opposite of collecting something that is noble. That's the very opposite of practicing nobility. That's not making this valuable trait a part of your daily life. It's doing the very opposite of what God intends. Rather, we should be those as Christians who are seeking to add this treasure or to collect this great spiritual treasure of nobility, and to make that a part of our daily life. And you might say, "Well, the whole world doesn't act like this. Why should I?" There's a principle of the Old Testament that certainly has a general application. There in Exodus chapter 23 and verse two, says, "You shall not follow a crowd to do evil," and probably many of us have heard similar statements throughout our lives, as our parents or grandparents might try to instill that same value in us. Just because the world doesn't act noble, just because the majority of those around you don't demonstrate this trait of nobility, does that mean you should disregard as well? Certainly not. The Bible calls us to a higher standard. We should be those who are truly acting noble in this world. Don't turn aside after many to pervert justice. Don't be those who jump on that irreverent bandwagon. Rather, be those who collect this spiritual trait and make that a part of your life. Be reverent in general by demonstrating this high standard of nobility in whatever aspect of life it may be. Students, show respect to your teachers and listen to them. Those who are in this country as citizens, show respect for the law and for those in positions of authority. Be kind and considerate to one another, even especially those who need special aid in this life, to the elderly, to those who may have some sort of disability. Show honor to others, but above all things, honor the name of God by acting in such a way that demonstrates His high standard of nobility. We need to be those who show such in our lives, in all aspects. One particular aspect, we need to show nobility as citizens. First, as Christians, we are citizens of the very kingdom of God. There in Matthew chapter six and verse 33, Jesus said, "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." Sometimes we don't think about the fact that, as Christians, we are citizens, citizens not just of this world, of some country, but of God's kingdom, that spiritual kingdom. How are you living as a citizen of God's spiritual kingdom? Psalm 105, verse four gives us something to consider. "To seek the Lord in His strength, seek His face forevermore." If you are meditating on noble things, it is collecting this spiritual treasure of nobility, then you're going to be seeking God and His law, His will, in this spiritual kingdom first, every single day. Second to that, though, as citizens, we must obey the laws of man. Now, that comes with an understanding that if the laws of man violate the law of God, then certainly we obey God's law first. That doesn't give us a reason to just disregard the law of the world, the law of the land. Romans chapter 13 and 1 Peter chapter two would give us that biblical principle. To be noble is to follow the law, the law of the land and the law of God first. To lack nobility reflects poorly upon all those who would proclaim to be Christians. When you think about living as a good example, what do others think when they don't see a good example, but they see a poor example in your life because you're not demonstrating this great spiritual treasure of being noble? You know, hypocrisy is something that is easily identifiable and people can see right through us. If this spiritual treasure of nobility is not a integral part of our lives as Christians, then people will see that we say one thing and yet we practice something completely and totally different. How then do we put this into practice in our lives? That is, if we're going to meditate on noble things, that is, to collect this spiritual treasure of nobility, what are some of the areas in which we would do that? How would we accomplish such a task? Let's think about first having a noble tongue. There in James chapter three, verses nine and 10, James points out that it's hypocrisy to bless the name of God but then curse your fellow man who's been made in the likeness of God. "Out of the same source should not spring both evil and good." We should not have a tongue that is split, in the sense that some good and some bad comes from that same mouth. We should have a noble tongue. Psalm 8, verse one, "O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is your name in all the earth. You have set your glory above the heavens." Let us use our tongue to magnify and praise the name of God as we worship Him, but also as we live in this world, let us lift up His name by the words that we use every single day. Now, the way in which we demonstrate this nobility is to have a noble example. 1 Corinthians chapter 11, verse one, Paul says to imitate him as he imitated Christ. Well, what better example do we have of nobility than of Jesus? One who held that highest standard for us in this life to follow after, one who truly showed reverence, one who truly was in every way the greatest example of nobility. We need to follow that example, to act noble at worship services. That means to be reverent, to be those that are noble at home, those that are noble in the workplace, at school, in the marketplace. That is not just a facade, this outer appearance of nobility, but everywhere we go, we are consistent in this spiritual treasure, that we always show reverence as we should properly in our everyday lives, not just with our tongues, with our example. What about our attire? We also need to have a noble attire, in what sense? Not just to dress according to the standard of men, but to address according to the standard of God, in a modest way, in a way that again shows reverence to God and the fact that we treasure the lives that he's given to us, the bodies that He's made, and we cover them accordingly. But to have also a noble worship. John chapter four, verses 23 and 24, that we are to worship God both in spirit and in truth. Part of our worship as we think about that requirement has to be according to God's standard, that is, His truth, but also there according to the right attitude, that it comes from the heart. Are you properly worshiping God because you're doing it out of a heart that has reverence for Him and all that He is? We should also show this nobility every single day. It should be a way of life, not just something, again, where we go through the motions, that yes, we pretend to be noble, that is, to be reverent when we worship God as we might assemble with others of like precious faith, but that this is something that's evidenced in our everyday lives. This is something true that should be a way of life, something that when people see us, they say, "I know that's a Christian, because that's a person that is noble. That's a person that has collected this great spiritual treasure and is utilizing it every single day." Sadly, in this world, most seek treasure in things that really have no value. They might have some monetary value in this world, whether it's cars or houses or lands, or whatever it might be. There are a lot of things that have high dollar values to them in this physical world, but can you take them with you? Are those things going to necessarily enable you to get to heaven? Quite the contrary. Many times, those are the things that might keep us from getting to that heavenly home. We need to think about collecting spiritual treasures, those things that are priceless in the sight of God, things that enable us to be the best that we can be as Christians, and that would help us get to that heavenly home. As you think about the wording again of Philippians chapter four, verse eight, are you meditating on these things? Specifically, are you meditating on noble things? Are you collecting that great spiritual treasure in your life? If not, why not? Why would you not make every single effort that you can make to make sure that you're the best that you can be before God? Because that what He demands of our lives, not to just to to make it through and try to skate by with the least we can do, but to be the best that we can be before His sight. Are you truly being the best before God by collecting this spiritual trait of nobility? Are you showing that reverence in your everyday life? Are you one who's collecting this great spiritual treasure? ♪ Who at my door is standing ♪ ♪ Patiently drawing near ♪ ♪ Entrance within demanding ♪ ♪ Whose is the voice I hear ♪ ♪ Sweetly the tones are falling ♪ ♪ Open the door for Me ♪ ♪ If thou wilt heed My calling ♪ ♪ I will abide with thee ♪ ♪ All through the dark hours dreary ♪ ♪ Knocking again is He ♪ ♪ Jesus, art Thou not weary ♪ ♪ Waiting so long for me ♪ ♪ Sweetly the tones are falling ♪ ♪ Open the door for Me ♪ ♪ If thou wilt heed My calling ♪ ♪ I will abide with thee ♪ ♪ Door of my heart, I hasten ♪ ♪ Thee will I open wide ♪ ♪ Though He rebuke and chasten ♪ ♪ He shall with me abide ♪ ♪ Sweetly the tones are falling ♪ ♪ Open the door for Me ♪ ♪ If thou wilt heed My calling ♪ ♪ I will abide with thee ♪

>>Thanks for choosing to be with us this day for "The Living Word" program. I hope and trust together we have all benefited from this time before God, and let me invite you back every Sunday morning at 7:30 as we give this time to our Creator. But for now, let me ask you if you have any questions or comments about today's lesson. Maybe you'd like a free transcript or free CD or DVD of the program, or possibly we could assist you with free Bible materials or free Bible correspondence courses. No matter what your deed is, please feel free to contact us at the following address. The Living Word, 2540 North Kansas Expressway, Springfield, Missouri, 65803. Many of these items are also available on our website. That address, TheLivingWordProgram.com or if you prefer, you may call us at 417-869-2284. As followers of God, we must consider whether we are meditating on noble things in this life, for living the Christian life is certainly a serious endeavor. Therefore, may we always strive to have a life of dignity and those things according to the will of God, that we ultimately might please Him in the end.

>>Our prayer is to help the world know more about God through this television program. "The Living Word" has been brought to you under the oversight of the Elders of Kansas Expressway Church of Christ in Springfield, Missouri, with the assistance of the following area Churches of Christ. ♪ Since Jesus came to seek and save the lost ♪ ♪ Give me the Bible, Holy message shining ♪ ♪ Thy light shall guide me in the narrow way ♪ ♪ Precept and promise, law and love combining ♪